JJ KAPUR - TALK TANK KAPUR

An Indian-American student in the US has won this year’s National Speech and Debate Tournament, considered to be the most prestigious high school competition in the country.
JJ Kapur composed his own persuasive speech titled ‘Let’s Dance’, addressing a social issue. His speech, which won the competition in the category of original oratory, started out with a lively Bollywood dance and focused on his experiences as a Sikh-American youth.
“I found that the story of Bollywood was just that, a story....And this disconnect between story and reality extends far beyond India’s borders. We are a story-telling society. We each seek to provide our scattered and confusing experiences with a sense of coherence, by arranging the episodes of our lives into stories. The problem arises when our complex realities does not match the narrative,” Kapur said in his speech. He said he was two years old when the September 11, 2001, attacks happened. “My father was afraid that Americans would see his beard and turban and think ‘terrorist,’” he said. The teen does not remember this incident, but it was a turning point for his father, who realised how he and his family might be perceived. His interest in the topic was fuelled by an experience when a group of strangers mocked him at a restaurant, telling him to “Go home, Osama.” “I remember thinking, ‘I’m an American. I’ve lived here my whole life. This is my home,” he said. “As a Sikh minority, I want to use speech and debate to amplify the voice of Sikhs in my community. I want to use the platform I have for advocacy,” Kapur had said. Kapur’s victory caps off a string of high profile awards, including first-place finishes at the Emory University, Minneapple and Harvard University tournaments.